The Wild Bread Co.

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Graeme Taute has built up a considerable reputation for the quality of the bread he bakes using traditional methods. Very few bakeries use the age-old form of bread making any longer, mostly because these breads are very time consuming to make. Taute makes four varieties of bread: pain de compagne — both large and small loaves — olive bread, baguettes and 100% rye loaves.

A clinical psychologist by profession, Taute closed his practice towards the end of 2008 to write a book and turn part-time baker. "It was safe to stay in practise as a psychologist but my soul wanted something bigger to be conquered by. That ‘something’ was more important than security and financial stability." When Taute started to make bread himself he admits to being defeated by yeast. “I was turning out bricks. I just couldn’t get the hang of how it worked. I felt it was this alien staring up at me.”

Reading all he could about bread and bread-making techniques, Taute inevitably encountered the great authority on French bread, Raymond Calvel. “I was really struck by something he said: ‘good bread is something made according to the nature of things’. Bread knows how to make itself. We just have to give it the right conditions. In that sense, bread making is rather like life; I often think we interfere too much.”

Graeme Taute runs hands-on bread-making courses on the last Saturday of every month, i.e. Artisan bread-baking, sourdough bread making, Italian and French bread-baking, Festival bread-baking course.

The Artisan Bread-Baking course guides one through all the essential aspects of bread-making, including an exploration of the types of flour and yeast, mixing and kneading techniques, processes of primary and secondary fermentation, shaping and baking.

Contact him if you would like to be added to his mailing list. The cost include ingredients, course notes and lunch.

KwaZulu Natal Midlands Green Map South Africa
updated 09/2014 by KZN Midlands Green Map South Africa